Tesla Tumbles After Chief Financial Officer Zack Kirkhorn “Steps Down”

Tesla shares are slipping this morning after the unexpected departure of the company’s Chief Financial Officer (and, as the company’s 8-K wryly notes, Master of Coin), Zach Kirkhorn. 

Shares were down almost 4% in morning trading on Monday.

Kirkhorn had been with the company for 13 years. Tesla filed an 8-K Monday morning which stated that “Kirkhorn stepped down as of August 4, after a thirteen-year tenure with the company, the last four years of which he has served as Master of Coin and Chief Financial Officer.”

The company “appointed Vaibhav Taneja as Chief Financial Officer in addition to his current role as Chief Accounting Officer, to succeed Zachary Kirkhorn,” the regulatory filing reads. Taneja is 45 years old. 

Taneja has experience working for Tesla and Musk, having previously worked as “Tesla’s Chief Accounting Officer since March 2019, as Corporate Controller from May 2018, and as Assistant Corporate Controller between February 2017 and May 2018”.

He also “served in various finance and accounting roles at SolarCity Corporation from March 2016”, the filing concludes. 

Traders will be on watch as to how the market perceives the departure, since no detail has been given as to why Kirkhorn stepped down. We are left to wonder how unplanned the departure was as, generally, when CFOs depart a company, they do so with a succession plan in place and the company telegraphing their move well in advance so as to not surprise the street.